Monday, March 14, 2011

Celebrating 2, Dora Style!

We Celebrated my baby's 2nd birthday last week. I think I've mentioned before that we only do friend parties at ages 3, 5, 8 and 12. On the other years we celebrate by inviting family over for dinner, cake and ice cream and presents. Of course I still like to go out of my way to make their day special and memorable.

My daughter LOVES Dora. I'm pretty sure "Dora" was one of her first words and she begs all day to watch it. Even though I wanted to incorporate Dora into her birthday, I didn't want it to be in your face Dora. That's just not my style.

For her birthday outfit I made subway art that incorporated Dora sayings and printed it on an iron on transfer. I added it to a clearance t-shirt and made a matching ruffled skirt.

She loved it.

Every proper party needs a hat. I whipped this up a couple minutes before the party. I made a cone out of card stock and glued fabric over the top. Then I added the ruffle, pom-pom, and a printed picture of Dora with hot glue. A thin piece of elastic was used for the strap.

I couldn't believe it, she wore it all night.

My favorite part of every party is the cake.

I love the dora scene at the bottom but...

the Stars made the cake.

If you are wondering why dora is not on the cake, it never came in the mail. I ordered a Dora candle from Amazon 5 days before her birthday with 2 day shipping. When it didn't come we had to improvise- luckily we had a backpack figure in a game. We still haven't gotten the candle. I'm a little mad with Amazon.

She didn't seam to notice.

I wanted to make her something for her birthday as well. I knew Backpack would be the perfect gift.

I made it in a similar way as my mail pouches. I could maybe post the pattern if people are interested.

Sorry for the blurry picture. When she opened it she just held it up and whispered "Backpack, Backpack." It was so cute, exactly the response I wanted.

I also wanted to share my secret for a fun, easy, and cheap party for any kid under 5.

Fill a room with balloons. My girls were smiling and playing with them for hours.

Holy cow I love that backpack! I got a toy version for my 2-year-old daughter for Christmas, but it doesn't have straps, so that's a bummer. I think it would be awesome if you posted the pattern for it!

We are having a Dora party on Saturday for my daughters 3rd birthday. Your backpack is way cuter then mine, but I made 14 so I had to keep them simple and I used felt. Love the cake to bad the candle didn't get there in time.

Ahhh I NEED the pattern to that backpack! I've wanted to make one for my daughter for a long time, with a laminated rolled-up map for the inside. Or an embroidered cloth one, something like that. It would be awesome if you posted the pattern!